1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular seat for use in a passenger car or the like and more particularly to a vehicular seat including a seat cushion which is supported on a floor portion of a vehicle body panel and a seat back which is vertically divided into two portions of a seat back upper and a seat back lower and is supported in such a manner as to be bent between the seat back upper and the seat back lower and controlled to be reclined.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, there is known a vehicular seat that is made up of a seat cushion in which an occupant is seated and a seat back which constitutes a backrest for the occupant wherein the seat back is vertically divided into two portions in such a manner as to be bent intermediately and controlled to be reclined (refer, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. JP-A-2002-345589 and U.S. Patent Examined Publication No. U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,737).
For example, a vehicular seat disclosed in the JP-A-2002-345589 is a rear seat for a sedan-type passenger vehicle, and as is shown in FIG. 5, a seat cushion frame 113 of a seat cushion 111 is supported on a bracket 121 on a floor portion 120a of a vehicle body panel 120 via a link arm 122, and a frame 114a for an upper half portion 112a of a seat back 112 is supported on a rear vertical wall portion 120b of the vehicle body panel 120 via link arms 124, 125.
In addition, a frame 114b for a lower half portion 112b of the seat back 112 is rotatably supported on a hinge bracket 126 which is secured to a lower side of the rear vertical wall portion 120b of the vehicle body panel 120, the frames 114a and 114b are connected to each other via an elongated hole 127 that is formed in the frame 114b on an upper end side thereof in such a manner as to rotate and slide, and a lower end side of the frame 114b is rotatably connected with a seat cushion frame 113.
Then, when a motor 130 that is mounted on the rear wall portion 120b disposed back of the seat back 112 is driven to rotate, the link arms 124, 125 mounted on the frame 114a for the upper half portion 112a of the seat back 112 are then rotated, respectively, whereby the upper half portion 112a is moved in parallel in such a manner as be close to or separated apart from the rear vertical wall portion 120b. When the link arms 124, 125 are rotated counterclockwise, the upper half portion 112a of the seat back 112 moves downwards and in such a direction as to approach the rear vertical wall portion 120b as shown in FIG. 6, and the lower half portion 112b of the seat back 112 is caused to rotate clockwise by the relevant movement of the upper half portion 112a, whereby the seat back 112 is bent intermediately so as to be put in a reclined state. In addition, the seat cushion 111 is raised upwards by the link arm 122 in association with the rotation of the lower half portion 112b, whereby the vehicular seat 100 is moved to take a reclined posture.
Incidentally, in the conventional vehicular seat that has been described above, since the upper half portion of the seat back moves downwards when the a basic posture of the seat is shifted to a reclined posture thereof, the head of the occupant also moves downwards, whereby the height of the line of sight of the occupant is lowered to thereby narrow the field of vision thereof.